Booktalk for Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater

A girl who was almost killed by wolves, and the yellow-eyed wolf who saved her six years ago, find themselves strangely drawn to each other, connecting in a way theyâve never felt before.

Grades

9–12

They’d always known each other, the yellow-eyed wolf who peered out from the edge of the woods, and the girl who lived in the last house before the woods began, who waited and watched for him.She only saw him in the winter, when spring came with its warmth, he vanished, and she spent her summers alone.

Grace hadn’t told anyone about her wolf or the strange connection they shared.But when Jack, one of her classmates, was allegedly killed by the wolves, and the men in town vowed revenge, determined to wipe out the whole pack, Grace knew she had to act.She stopped them, she had to.The men left, and Grace walked out of the woods and into her own backyard, and saw the crumpled shape leaning up against the back door.Then she smelled him—it was her wolf.

But when Grace got closer, she realized it wasn’t a wolf, but a boy, a boy who looked at her with his yellow eyes, and waited to see what she would do.He was covered with blood from a wound on his neck, and Grace knew she had to get him out of sight and stop the bleeding.Other than that, she didn’t know what to do or think.Werewolves weren’t real, everyone knew that.But she couldn’t deny the reality, lying bleeding on the kitchen floor in front of her.

This booktalk was written by Joni Richards Bodart, booktalker, author, university prefessor, and consultant.